‘You can’t do that.’
‘I can. And I would. But the truth is I won’t have to. Screw the scandal. They’ll get over it.’
‘No.’ There was no way that would happen. ‘I don’t think so. I think you should leave.’ She needed him to go. Now.
His eyes narrowed on her. ‘Do you know what I think?’ he asked, bitterness sharpening his soft-spoken words. ‘I think that no matter what I do, no matter what I say, I can’t win this. You will still say no to me.’ He blew out a harsh breath. ‘You don’t want me enough to fight for this. For us. For me.’
That tore her heart in two.
‘Don’t,’ she begged him. ‘Please don’t.’ Because it wasn’t true. It wasn’t fair.
She was trying to do what was right.
Large tears welled in her eyes, her breathing came uneven and quick and she wanted to run. But there was a huge desk and an immovable man in front of her.
And he wasn’t going to let her run.
He watched her for a long moment, seeming to see right through her.
‘This is fear,’ he told her firmly. ‘Pure and simple. You’re afraid to believe in me. You’re afraid to trust that I’m really here for you, because no one has ever been there for you before.’
Hot tears now scalded her cheeks. She couldn’t stop them, couldn’t stop him. She couldn’t bear to look at him, yet nor could she tear her gaze from his.
‘That changes, Bella. Tonight,’ he promised her. ‘I’m here for you now. And I have enough fight for the both of us.’
She blinked, spilling more tears, but she still couldn’t get her voice to work. She still couldn’t get her body to move. She still couldn’t get her brain to believe.
‘I have been such a coward,’ he said quietly. ‘I was a pompous jerk, believing that my “duty” was more important than anything when really it was an excuse not to let anyone get close. I have felt so guilty about Alessia and blamed myself for a long time. I felt like I didn’t deserve this kind of happiness because of what happened. But you were right that I needed to forgive myself. To move on. And now I think maybe the way to make amends is to love a woman the way she deserves to be loved. To love you more than life itself.’
Bella closed her eyes, but he kept speaking and she couldn’t block him out.
‘It’s very easy to love someone when she’s the right person for you,’ he added softly. ‘I know you’re scared to believe in this. In me. I know you don’t trust me. Not yet.’
She wanted to hide because her skin was burning with pain and vulnerability.
‘Give me time,’ he added. ‘We can work on that together, Bella.’
The sincerity in his voice compelled her to look him in the eye again. Hope did more than shift within her, it unfurled.
‘You’re not just saying this because you feel somehow responsible for me?’ she asked. ‘Because I’m okay. I’ll be okay. I can survive—’
‘Well, good for you, but I can’t,’ he snapped, his smile vanishing. ‘I won’t be happy without you. And I won’t stop until you’re at my side.’ He growled at her. ‘I never understood what love really was until I met you. Be brave. Trust me. Turn to me. Need me the way I need you. Love me the way I love you. Like nothing else matters. Because nothing else does.’
He was too compelling. Too honest. And nothing else did matter except that he was standing miles from her and while she’d heard everything he’d said, she needed to feel it too. She needed to experience that certainty in his strong embrace.
He’d fallen silent, watching her process everything, but his smile had returned. She realised he was waiting for her to come to him. Waiting for her to be as brave as he’d asked her to be. And she wanted to be, but her legs trembled as anticipation and ecstatic relief surged through her.
He met her halfway around the stupid desk. Reaching out, he framed her face with both hands and looked down at her for a long moment.
‘Don’t you want to kiss me?’ She gripped his wrists hard, dying at his hesitation.
‘More than anything this whole freaking time,’ he muttered. ‘But I was determined to talk to you. I knew you’d say yes if I made love to you first, but I didn’t want to seduce you that way. I wanted to be sure you listened. And heard. You need to believe in me.’
He kissed her then—a soft, sweet kiss that breathed love and laughter into her once forlorn heart. Oh, Lord, was it possible to die from happiness?
She rose on tiptoe, refusing to let him pull back too far. She needed him near. She needed his touch. ‘You thought you could seduce me into saying yes?’
‘I can seduce you into saying anything.’ He played up his wicked tease, his eyes dancing. ‘Into saying yes, into saying how much you want me...but I wanted you to mean it.’
‘Seduce me anyway,’ she invited. ‘I’ll say it. And I’ll still mean it.’
‘What will you say?’
His question was barely audible, but she read the hunger in his eyes. Suddenly it was easy to be brave.
‘That I love you.’
He too was so very easy to love.
‘I do love you,’ she repeated, no longer caring that she was crying again.
His kisses smothered her words but she kept on chanting them—in her heart, in her touch. And he met her, promise for promise, kiss for kiss, touch for touch.
He pulled her close. She’d missed him so much. They worked frantically, undoing buttons, pushing fabric aside, eager for skin, sensation, surety.
‘No more secrecy,’ he muttered. ‘No more stolen moments.’ He swiftly moved, spinning and lifting her onto the broad desk, his smile both tender and outrageous, his eyes filled with love. She parted her legs and pulled him to her, equally teasing and true.
‘Love me,’ she begged as he kissed his way down the length of her body and back up again.
‘Already do. Always will,’ he answered roughly, grabbing her leg and wrapping it higher around his hip so he could rub tantalisingly harder against her core, almost claiming her, but not quite. ‘You’re mine. I’m yours. Love me back.’
The pleasure was so exquisite she could barely comprehend his words. ‘Yes.’
‘Keep. Saying. Yes.’ He thrust into her with each word, but not all the way, only teasing, arousing her beyond sanity.
‘Yes. Yes. Yes.’ She never wanted him to stop this torture—but at the same time she wanted it all. Now.
‘Marry me,’ he demanded as he thrust into her to the hilt.
She gasped and stared up at him, registering the brutally satisfied look on his face as he pinned her hot, willing body with his.
‘You bully,’ she breathed as she saw the laughing, loving determination within him.
‘Not bullying,’ he corrected with another devastating thrust. ‘Seducing.’
‘It’s too soon.’
‘Always you need convincing,’ he teased. But he smiled tenderly at her and gently kissed away the tears falling fresh from her eyes. ‘No matter. I’ll seduce you every day until you say yes to this. To everything. To me.’
She gasped as he pushed closer still.
He looked into her eyes, his own revealing exquisite torment as he paused. ‘We’ll get there together, darling. You can count on it.’
He reached down between them to touch her. Merciless. Relentless. Utterly loving. Determination hardened his face as she trembled, shaking in his arms. There was more than an orgasm coming. There was bliss of the for-ever kind.
‘Yes,’ she sobbed. ‘Yes, yes, yes.’
EPILOGUE
Two years later
‘YOU’RE NOT A good accompanist for my beginner classes,’ Bella admonished her laughing husband once the last of her students had left the studio.
‘I thought I did pretty well.’ Crown Prince Antonio spread his hands in an innocent gesture as he left the piano and sauntered over to where she stood in the middle of the wooden floor.
Bella tried not to be swayed by his gorgeous casual jeans and tee comb
o but she just loved seeing him this relaxed. ‘Breaking into Happy Birthday in the middle of the warm-up was not helpful.’
‘But it is your birthday and they loved singing it to you.’
It was his smile that was her undoing—that wickedly tempting glint that flashed from behind that formal reserve and hit her like sensual lightning.
‘I’ve cancelled the rest of your classes for today.’ He walked past to lock the studio door and turned back to face her with an arrogant wink.
‘You haven’t,’ she breathed, outraged and delighted at the same time.
Two years in and he was still stealing moments for them alone.
‘I have,’ he confirmed with zero apology. ‘Not only is it your birthday, it’s our first wedding anniversary and I’m in charge of all celebrations. Especially the private ones.’
‘You do love to be in charge, don’t you?’ she murmured as he came close enough to kiss.
‘I’ve had a lifetime of experience.’ He nodded as he brushed his lips over hers. ‘Don’t hold it against me.’
Laughing, she curled her arms around his neck and snuggled close. She’d never have thought she could feel so happy and so secure.
Salvatore Accardi had sold his property on San Felipe, loudly declaring he preferred Sardinia. Which was more than fine as far as Bella was concerned because Antonio had been muttering about banishing him from San Felipe for ever on some pretext and that would have only caused scandal and pain, neither of which she was interested in.
Antonio’s brother Eduardo had welcomed her with rakish charm and she’d bonded with his wife Stella over her beautiful baby daughter Sapphire.
But the best thing of all was the man in front of her. That her Prince had become so playful still amused her. When the crowds weren’t around he was filled with warmth and laughter, but it had spilled over into his public persona as well. The press headlines gushed over the transformation in the Prince—he smiled, he laughed, he was so obviously happy, they seemed to think she was Wonder Woman... So to her absolute amazement, the people of San Felipe had welcomed her completely. Speculation about Princess Bella’s possible pregnancy was rife. But that was the one thing she wanted to share with him alone.
She looked up into his beautiful eyes, unable to keep her secret a second longer. ‘I have an anniversary present for you.’ Even though she was so excited, she was suddenly shy and couldn’t get her voice above little more than a whisper.
But he could lip-read and, besides, he knew already, didn’t he?
Her eyes filled as he dropped to his knees before her.
‘Tell me it’s true,’ he muttered roughly, wrapping his arms around her legs so tightly she almost toppled.
‘I thought we didn’t read the papers.’ She couldn’t resist a final tease as she ruffled his hair gently.
‘I haven’t read the papers. I’ve read here.’ He placed his hand on the very gentle swell of her stomach. ‘And here.’ He cupped her breast. ‘And here.’ He cupped the side of her face, wiping the tear from under her eye with the gentlest finger and then tracing the full curve of her lips. ‘So tell me it’s true.’
She smiled a watery smile. He groaned, a raw sound of heartfelt longing and wonder. She bent to kiss him quiet, pouring her heart and happiness into it, into him. She could never give him enough—not when he’d given her so much.
‘Dance with me,’ he whispered against her mouth, pulling her down to the floor with him.
‘Any time,’ she promised.
Because the music between them played for ever.
* * * * *
Read on for an extract from TO BLACKMAIL A DI SIONE by Rachael Thomas.
To Blackmail a Di Sione
by Rachael Thomas
CHAPTER ONE
BIANCA DI SIONE SCANNED the busy conference room from her vantage point at the back, looking for her sister Allegra. The buzz of voices became louder as the room filled but she was too preoccupied to notice. She couldn’t quite shake off the sensation that things weren’t right with her sister. Not that she’d mentioned anything to her. That would be so unlike Allegra.
As the conference got under way, Bianca saw Allegra walking onto the stage and knew something was wrong. She was pale beneath the polished exterior she always showed to the world and Bianca felt guilty. She was about to add to that worry. The weight of their terminally ill grandfather’s request would only exacerbate whatever worried Allegra, but she had to talk to her. She needed to confide in someone and Allegra had always been that person. She’d stepped into the role of mother after the tragic loss of their parents when they were young and had always been there for her.
The final speaker was introduced but Bianca couldn’t concentrate; her mind kept replaying what her grandfather had asked of her last week. He’d been so frail, so weak, she hadn’t wanted to press him for more information, but now wished she had. All she had to go on was the tale of his Lost Mistresses, which she and her brothers and sisters had grown up on. Even more intriguing, she wasn’t the only grandchild to be sent on a mission to retrieve one of these Lost Mistresses, but she did understand how important they were to him. She recalled the many times he’d told them that these precious pieces were how he’d managed to set up Di Sione Shipping when he arrived in America. He’d always referred to them as their legacy.
‘Ms Di Sione. This is an unexpected pleasure.’
That voice, that accent which hadn’t quite had the roughened edges smoothed from it, startled her from her reverie. She turned and looked up into the hard but undeniably handsome face of Liev Dragunov.
He looked immaculate, his dark suit emphasising the hardness which sparked from his ice-grey eyes, his brown hair short and as severe as his expression. He looked formidable. Just as he had the first day she’d met him, when he’d approached her company to represent his. The firm line of his mouth hinted that a smile lingered just beneath the surface. Inwardly her heart plummeted. She didn’t need this, not today. Couldn’t the man take no for an answer?
‘Mr Dragunov. I trust you are here for legitimate reasons.’ The same unease she’d felt the very first time he’d stood in her office last week shivered down her spine. She even began to wonder if she was losing her ability to read a person. Allegra was being unusually evasive, probably due to all the travelling she’d done recently. But this man, with his commanding presence and dominating aura, unsettled her far too much.
‘Everything I do has a legitimate reason.’ Was that an undertone of threat in his accented voice?
She lifted a brow in speculation as she looked at him, not totally immune to his bad-boy looks. Her gaze slid discreetly over him as he surveyed the room. He pulled at the cuffs of his white shirt, visible beneath his dark suit, as if he was preparing himself for some kind of battle or confrontation. In response she found herself compelled to stand just a little taller, as if hoping to match his height.
‘That may be so, but what possible reason could you have to be here, Mr Dragunov? Geneva is a long way from New York.’ He turned his attention back to her and she looked directly into his eyes, resisting the urge to shiver at the coldness in them. Instead she kept her chin lifted and her face a mask of composure, hiding her unease, something she’d become more than adept at over the years.
‘As I made a sizeable donation to the Di Sione Foundation, I think it is prudent to see what work is being done. Would you not agree, Ms Di Sione?’ He moved a little closer to her, lowering his voice, and even though his polite smile didn’t falter she sensed something more.
‘Do you have an interest in creating opportunities for women in developing countries, Mr Dragunov?’ Bianca couldn’t keep the crispness from her voice. Neither did she miss the hardening of his jaw, or the glint of steel in his eyes. Could he really be using the Di Sione Foundation as a way of speaking to her again? She’d made it clear her company was not in a position to handle his next launch campaign, something he obviously had difficulty accepting.
She clutche
d her folder tighter against her chest, unsure what it was about this man that made her feel nervous and also excited. He’d unlocked something inside her, provoked her in a way no other man had, and her instant response was to defend herself. But against what?
Already it was a sparring of words, just as it had been the first time he’d arrived in her office. She’d put her reaction to him down to shock of her grandfather’s request, but wasn’t so sure any more. Liev Dragunov was a force to be reckoned with and right now that was the last thing she wanted to do.
He didn’t take his eyes off her but she refused to look away, refused to give him even one tiny amount of power over her. She’d learnt that trick early on in life—how to outwardly remain in control when inside she was all nerves and apprehension. It was many years since a man had made her feel so uneasy, but it had never been quite like this. Not that she’d ever allow the Russian billionaire to know that, not when he brought out her insecurities and vulnerabilities with just one glacial look.
‘No. But I do have an interest in you.’ The answer was blatant and she almost let a shocked gasp slip out but managed to hold it back.
Only once before had a man been so bold about his interest in her and she’d almost fallen for it. Ten years on, the humiliation of her prom night still raced through her. Brought into the present by a man she instinctively didn’t trust, yet was drawn to, like a moth to an irresistible flame.
What was it about him? Well, there was no way she would be finding out. Life was far too busy at the moment to indulge in such nonsense.
‘I explained last week, Mr Dragunov, that I am not in a position to represent you or your company.’ Irritation caused her words to be sharp and unyielding and his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, adding to his aura of power.
‘I don’t believe that.’ He moved a step closer and she caught a hint of his aftershave, as strong and dominating as the man himself.
She couldn’t look away, her gaze locking with his. Her pulse leapt and she wondered if she’d ever breathe normally again. Just when she thought she couldn’t keep up the pretence of indifference any longer he stepped back.
The Mistress That Tamed De Santis Page 15